Tim Grobaty: Long Beach Eats -- It's the cheese, Hof's Hut thanks

CHEESE & OTHER CHOW: Our plans for you in the coming days are pretty food heavy, so it's time to jettison that cutting-down resolution you made with such childlike enthusiasm just a couple of short weeks ago.

It's OK. You didn't know that Cheese Week was coming. You hadn't expected a fleet of food trucks to be rolling into town. You had no way of knowing that Hof's Hut was going to slash its prices at its doomed Marina store in appreciation for your decades of patronage. You're just a person trying to make a change in your life by cutting back on eating. Well, welcome to reality, Bright Eyes.

CHEESE WEEK: We're in the middle of Restaurant Week in California and Downtown Long Beach is celebrating the occasion by throwing its first Cheese Week from Monday through Jan. 27, with 16 restaurants in the old part of town participating in several ways. District Wine in the East Village is offering a cheese and wine pairing; the Sky Room at the Breakers is dishing up a cheese tapas menu with more than a dozen items; Potholder Cafe Too is rolling out a five-cheese omelette for $7.95; go to Buono's Authentic Pizzeria, mention Cheese Week and you get extra cheese on any menu item or 10 percent off your tab.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: Just got off the phone with Hof's Hut president Craig Hofman, and here's the latest news: Hof's Hut in the Marina is still going to close, despite the protests of many of its long and loyal customers. And still no news about what's going to pop up in its place.

Meanwhile, though, Hofman is throwing a bash, of sorts, for those same loyal customers by hosting a Guest Appreciation Day on Tuesday to celebrate the half-century's worth of memories and good times at the beloved eatery.

On Tuesday, from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., Hof's at the Marina will be offering a buy-one, get-one-free special on its breakfast, lunch and dinner menus. If you come by yourself, or are the odd-numbered person in your party, you get your entree at half price.

Many remain miffed at the restaurant's impending closure - its lease runs out March 1. Who knows whether the Guest Appreciation Day will help allay the disappointment.

"Think this'll do the trick?" we asked Hofman.

"I don't know what will do the trick," he said. "I hope that it does show that we do care about the people who have come to Hof's Hut for so many years."

He noted that many of the equally loyal employees at the Marina venue are finding jobs within the Hof's company, which includes Lucille's barbecue restaurants as well as a half-dozen Hof's Huts in the area.

TRUCKS WITH FOOD!: Meals on Wheels, which, oddly, isn't the name of a food truck, and the Belmont Heights United Methodist Church (also not a food truck) are teaming for a series of Third Saturday Gourmet Food Truck Nights, kicking off from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday at the church, 317 Termino Ave. in Belmont Heights.

There'll be four food trucks and a dessert truck at the opener. Dining is indoors.

FRIDAY PLAYLIST: Suddenly, Saturday is Gun Appreciation Day. Well, that changes everything! The only thing that beats a bad guy with an iPod is a good guy with an iPod. That guy, we submit, is us: .